1. Field of the Invention
The present invention is directed to an apparatus having a number of operating parameters that can be set by an attendant via a control unit, of the type wherein the control unit has a display on which a mark, that indicates and influences the value of the appertaining operating parameter, can be displaced on a scale with an input means.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In an ideal apparatus, all operating parameters can be selected independently of one another. The entire range of adjustment thus always can be selected for each operating parameter. In reality, however, certain operating parameter values are often dependent on other values of other operating parameters that have already been determined in advance or that are conditioned by the status of the apparatus. The goal of the attendant is to find a combination of operating parameters for a desired operating condition that comes as close to possible as the ideal set of operating parameters.
Although it would be possible to present the operating parameters in table format on the display. A table, however, does not show how far the attendant is away from the targeted idea. The dynamic reaction of the apparatus to changes of operating parameters also cannot be satisfactorily recognized in a table format. The apparatus can either output a message, for example via a display, that the selected combination of operating parameters is not allowed, or the apparatus can automatically modify other operating parameters that may also already have been set by the attendant. In the former instance, the attendant must find an allowable combination of operating parameters based only on the table, this being time-consuming and uncomfortable. In the latter instance, the unpleasant situation for the attendant arises, namely that the apparatus ultimately prescribes the sequence in which the operating parameters must be set for the attendant.
There would also be the possibility of fashioning the control unit such that an automatic optimization of the operating parameters ensues following the input of a desired but inadmissible combination of operating parameters. The apparatus can then find the extremes of a function in n operating parameters and set them. However, the situation is often such that an operating parameter is extremely important to the attendant and should therefore not be modified insofar as possible. In the case of an automatic optimization, the attendant must be able to input (identify) what operating parameters must not be modified into the apparatus. The selection of the value of the operating parameter which is not to be modified is ultimately only possible on the basis of trial and error, since the apparatus can only determine, based on the setting of this value, whether an optimization of the other operating parameters is possible at all. Moreover, it is questionable whether the values determined by optimization will agree with the attendant's preferences.